'Excellent 2010' for noted Cork five-star hotel

ONE OF Cork city’s best known hotels, the five-star Hayfield Manor, had “an excellent 2010” that exceeded its performance in both 2009 and 2008.

The hotel’s financial controller Mark Scally said it had gone “from strength to strength in 2010”.

“I don’t believe that the hotel sector is as bad as the media is making it out to be,” he asserted.

Mr Scally was commenting on accounts filed by Hayfield Leisure Ltd to the Companies Office showing pre-tax profits at the company dropped by 91 per cent from €526,788 to €45,836 to the end of December 2009.

The filings show the chief factor behind this sharp decrease was a €272,556 “loss on disposal of investments”.

The figures also show the company’s operating profits dropped by 33 per cent from €557,564 to €368,824.

The abridged accounts do not provide a turnover figure, and show the company’s gross profit dropped by 19 per cent from €5.2 million to €4.2 million during the 12-month period.

The company had shareholder funds totalling €3.1 million at the end of 2009. It increased its cash from €509,894 to €898,810 during 2009.

Mr Scally said the hotel has a good mix of corporate and leisure guests, and was not totally reliant on domestic or foreign markets.

He said 2009 was a tough year, with the first six months being particularly hard.

The 87-room hotel employs 80 staff, he noted, and there had been no wage cuts. He said: “We are pleased with that.”

The figures show €700,000 was paid under the heading of “management contract” in relation to the company’s two directors, Mark Scally’s parents, Joseph and Margaret Scally, and the same amount was paid by the company in 2008.

The two also operate the Killarney Royal Hotel. The Scallys opened Hayfield Manor in 1996 after purchasing the estate from the Musgrave family.

The directors’ report for Hayfield Leisure Ltd states “the results of the business and the financial position were considered satisfactory, and the directors expect continued growth for the foreseeable future”. It adds: “The directors intend to increase profitability by increasing sales by continuing to market the company as a provider of high quality goods and keeping tight control over all operating expenditure.”

The directors did not recommend payment of a dividend last year. The figures show employment costs in 2009 dropped from €2.4 million to €2 million.